


That Emotion Called Love

by MarshmellowMistress (orphan_account)



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Anal Sex, Anyways, Boys Kissing, F/F, Fluff, M/M, Making Out, Minor Terezi Pyrope/Dave Strider, Sexual Content, Smut, Well I tried, dave is also but he has swag thrown in there, have fun reading, hope y'all enjoy this, john is such a dork, main ship is john/dave, maybe throw some smut in there, n stuff, terezi likes to bug dave
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-07
Updated: 2014-11-11
Packaged: 2018-02-20 05:36:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2416832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/MarshmellowMistress
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John Egbert is an average college student, going on a biology trip to Austin so he can boost his marks. Little does he know that the person he's been sub-consciously looking for all his life dwells within that city and more surprisingly, it'll take a lot more effort to find reasons to hate him.</p><p>In short, John is going to find that NOT falling in love with somebody is going to be a lot harder than just falling in love with them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, uh, I tried to write a fanfic prompt but it kinda turned into this... hope y'all enjoy it :3 but also, please comment if you think I need to improve a part or if there's any spelling errors or any errors in general. 
> 
> Update: I changed the pesterlogs! They're now in colour! Don't even ask how I managed to do this, I SUCK at these kind of things but *starts crying* after about an hour researching different CSS and HTML stuff, I have finally succeeded!( if you guys need help with it I'm more than willing to help because I understand the pain it takes to actually learn a new thing)

Everything is hazy around you. The horizon is bright blue and dancing lazily from the intense heat. Burning hot sunlight is bearing down on your shoulders and head, making you feel sick and sticky from your own sweat.

Your name is John Egbert and honestly, you don’t think you've ever been more lost than you are now.

You were supposed to go to the city of Austin on a biology trip for your college. Monitor the environmental balance around the city for a couple of weeks and write down your findings in this booklet before coming back. The rules were extremely simple. A two-year-old would understand them. They were made for people not to fuck up.

Of course you're the one that would fuck up by getting lost in the heat of the summer, about 25 miles from the city of Austin. Not even a spot of grass or a vision of a road is in sight. How could you have gotten lost only 25 miles away? Your car is somewhere on the road, long forgotten by now and seemingly a dream. The road is no where to be seen, you’re lost; and honestly, you feel like as if you’re about to die from dehydration.

You flashback to when you had just arrived at the town, not even 24 hours ago.

You had arrived at Austin at midnight, not even deterred from the flight trip from Washington. It may be a few hours ahead, but you were still as excited as hell. Your friend Rose already agreed to let you stay at her house for the time that you’re staying here and honestly, you’re very grateful for that. The airport was busier than the own back in Washington and you had felt confused, even a little overwhelmed at the time. It was probably because of over tiredness or something. Rose had told you to just wait at the entrance and she would pick you up with her girlfriend Kanaya. You were excited to see her too, for the first time in forever.

After you had been picked up by Rose and having met her girlfriend, things calmed down somewhat. You got back to their house that’s shared with Rose’s aging mother and got you settled in the spare room. After that, everybody had more than implied that they were tired ~~time difference, duh~~ , so you had gone to sleep like everybody else to get used to the time. When you had woken up- barely even 8 hours later- you were up and out of the house and into Rose’s old car to start your biology work.

And here you are. What a wonderful way to start off your biology trip. You’re happy. _Ecstatic_ even.

“How can the sun be so hot?” you say aloud, peering up at the sun with a hand shading your eyes. Sweat is constantly pouring from you and the water bottle that you were drinking is clutched in you free hand, crumpled and empty. You feel a headache coming up and you’re starting to feel like you should maybe just lie down on the ground for a while to sleep off the heat. Obvious signs of dehydration. Irritated with yourself and your situation, you kick a rock lying on the ground half heartedly before instantly regretting it. You just wasted vital energy on kicking that poor, poor rock.

A groan emits from your mouth before you slither to the ground with a muffled thump. Static starts filling your ears as you continue your journey down to the ground. Before long, blackness flickers through your vision before you give in with a resigned sigh.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

_**== >** **Be the other guy**_

Your name is Dave Strider and you honestly just found a person lying in the middle of no where, passed out. It had been a regular day, you just coming back from visiting your older bro and steal some more swords from him. Then, just as you were going to enter Austin, you find this weird blue spot on the side of the road. Turns out it was a person.

Weird.

So, being a Strider, you park your truck at the side of the road and went out to investigate. The weather is hot- especially seeing that you’re wearing a sweater and black skinny jeans but it doesn’t deter you. You’ve spent enough time in this city and state to have gotten used to the heat.

But it doesn’t look like the person has. When you get to where they are, you see that their face is starting to turn red on one side from a sunburn and the person’s- on a closer inspection you find out that it’s a dude- glasses are askew. You don’t want the kid to die from dehydration so you pick him up with ease and take him back to your air conditioned truck. The boy barely stirs when you place him on the bench in the back.

Water is what the person needs, you suddenly remember and search desperately for a water bottle or some shit. You find a half empty bottle in a side door on the passenger side and shrug before going to attend to the stranger. His mouth is slightly open so you sit the kid up slowly before gently pouring a little bit of liquid down his throat.

Just enough to wet his tongue. You’ve been in one of these situations- when you and your bro strifed on the roof tops you would sometimes pass out from dehydration so your bro would have to give you small doses of water or else you’d throw it up.

This time is no different. After a few minutes of giving water to the boy, his eyelids flutter open. And in all honesty, you’re blown away.

Blue. Blue like oceans. Blue like the indigo sky. Blue like--

Blue like what you’ve always dreamed of seeing. Blue like all your comforting thoughts. Blue like all of your fantasies.

Shit, this kids eyes are blue.

You swallow thickly before tilting your head slightly to look at the kid better. He’s blinking slowly, wincing a little bit. Probably from a humongous headache because of lack of water. You get the feel. Before he can freak out, you place a hand on his shoulder.

“Sup, dude. I found you passed out in the middle of no where just a few meters from the road. Say yes if you can hear me,” you say, cursing the slight texan drawl to your voice. No matter what you can do, you can hear your accent in your own voice- especially when you're around your brother, who has a very thick accent.

“Y-yes,” The kid stutters and squints his eyes at you.

You place the water bottle in the person’s hand, unscrewing it for him. You don’t know how out of it he is.

“Drink some of the water, it might help with the headache you’re probably feeling. Don’t drink it too fast or else you’re gonna throw that shit back up.”

The stranger nods slowly at your words before sipping rapidly at the bottle, obviously trying to drink it slowly but starting to fail. You still his hand gently and set the bottle on the ground.

“Whur.. ‘m I?” the blue eyed boy mumbles tiredly. You look around yourself before answering.

“About 25 miles from Austin. What were you doing collapsed randomly in the middle of hell’s gate? You could’ve died if you stayed out here long enough.”

The boy, you’ve finally noticed his dorky, messy black hair sticking up all over the place, murmurs slowly back,”Was on a biology assignment. Got lost.” Good. He’s starting to look a little bit more awake now. He’s starting to look around now, insistently licking his lips.

“What’s your name?”

He looks back at you with those gorgeous eyes once again,”John Egbert. You?”

“Dave Strider,” You smirk a little bit,” do you live here? Doesn't seem like you know 'bout the heat here.”

The boy- John- shrugs and grabs the water bottle to sip at again, slowly, before answering.

“I actually live in Washington. I was sent up here for a biology assignment. I thought everything was going to go great but then I got lost and here I am,” he actually looks furious at his mess up and you have a longing thought of ruffling his hair. But he’s a stranger. A cute stranger, but a stranger none the less. You’re not so much of an idiot to make a fool out of yourself.

“Well,” you stand up suddenly,”Do you want me to drive you back into Austin so that you can get a cab or….?”

John nearly stands up with you, but you hold up a hand, telling him no. He still needs to recover a little bit more. Being dehydrated can be a little bit… rough on the body.

“Actually, I have a car just down the road a little bit. I know that I was moving away from it before I passed out so it must be coming up. I might be able to walk now so I can get to it.”

You shake your head,”nah, I can give you a ride to it. The sun is still pretty hot.” John looks like as if he’s going to make a statement that he’s very capable of walking himself now, but you close the door before he can say anything before moving to the driver’s side and getting in. He’s a little bit quiet now that you’re driving, but you start up conversation almost instantly. You’ve never been able to stand silence- especially awkward silence.

“So, how long are you staying here?” you ask, trying to find different topics to talk about.

“Oh! I think my visit here is paid for the three week mark!” he replies cheerily,”I’m really happy that one of my friends that live here have offered to let me stay with them for the time I’m here!”

“That’s cool. So your friend lives here while you live in Washington? How did ya guys meet then?” you ask instead- the urge to start rambling is starting to get to you, but you keep your voice level and nearly emotionless.

John is silent for a few moments before he replies,”well, I met her over this game, but then we got to talking and then here we are! Actually, she’s stated that quite a few of her friendships were made over the internet so that may be the reason why we became friends so easily. That and fate!”

You snort and roll your eyes before remembering that you’re in the front seat and wearing your shades,” You’re kind of a noob. Fate? Maybe a different story. Did you get caught into all of that soulmate shenanigans? Everybody is pretty big on that, though I can’t bring myself to care- soulmate stuff is pretty boring and cliche as fuck. Really, why is everybody obsessed with it? Like it’s not as if people are gonna find their soulmate or anything because we all come from nothing and nothing means that people honestly can’t be born with a soulmate in mind. Or do they just know right from when they’re shot out into the world or like, do people need to find them? Apparently nobody will know, easy as that.”

John raises his eyebrows at you through the rearview mirror and you fight down a blush. You totally rambled, so uncool.

“Well… My friend and I aren’t really anything more than friends and I think the soulmates thing is a cool idea!” his voice is sweet and upbeat, even though you practically trashed something that he believes about.

You don’t really say much else until you see a shiny black Hyundai Accent on the side of the rode.

“That yours?”

John looks at the approaching vehicle and nods rapidly, relief washing over his face almost instantly. You hope you didn’t make the ride more awkward than it should be. The dude kind of seems nice and even though you won’t admit it, you really kind of want to learn more about him. The idea of maybe asking for his chum handle crosses your mind before you block it out, trying desperately not to get into this man’s business.

Instead of thinking, you smoothly bring your truck to the side of the road and parks it before turning to look at John. He’s looking back at you quietly.

“Well, I guess this is where you leave, huh? Well, have fun driving in your nooby Hyundai car,” you resist the urge to smirk as John says his farewells happily and thanks you for driving him here. Like you said, it’s pretty hot outside and you don’t think a dehydrated man should be walking around on the side of the highway.

Once he leaves, you watch him get into his car and drive away before slumping your shoulders. Your bro had said that you should try to be nicer to people, that’s why you’re losing friends and why you can’t get a proper job. But you can’t help it. It’s your personality. That John dude didn’t seem to mind, but yet again, you find it hard to gauge someone’s reactions.

Instead of thinking, you set off again with a sigh. Back to your quiet apartment.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

It’s hard not thinking about John when you get back to only be met with silence. You still need to unpack stuff, but you just move around the boxes to flop onto your shitty couch. It’s really quiet and almost ominous in this apartment. Your bro had stated that you needed a nicer looking flat than the shitty one that you had when you first moved out. But, well, you don’t think fancy suites are really for you. Your bro likes them, but you can’t really imagine yourself living here without a job and mooching off of your two brothers. They make a lot of money, but for some reason, you just can’t seem to get anything much more than a job at a bar or something. Your dream is to get rich off of the sick beats that you can make, but you’re still too nervous to do anything than go to small concert festivals to show off. That doesn’t get you money. Not at all.

You sigh again, pulling your phone out to check the time. 5:47 pm. It’s not even night yet so you can't play ironic video games and throw a pity party for yourself in the dark. Going outside is nearly out of the question because of the heat, but if you don’t do something you’ll die out of boredom. So, you pester your sister.

\-- turntechGodhead [TG] began pestering tentacleTherapist [TT] at 17:48 --

TG: yo   
TG: do you have any job ideas for me yet   
TT: Hi Dave   
TT: No, I don't have any job ideas for you been busy taking care of my visitor   
TT: they got sick from being out in the sun for too long   
TG: wow what a dork   
TG: i bet he cant even get up right now   
TG: i mean if your visitor is a dude   
TG: when did they get down   
TG: you seemed completely open yesterday   
TT: That’s because they just got here   
TT: like at midnight today   
TG: oh   
TG: well im gonna come over   
TG: im gonnaa die of boredom   
TG: seriously   
TG: i can rap this shit   
TT: I’m not sure if that’s a good idea, Dave   
TG: well im in my truck   
TG: expect me to be there in 15

\-- turnechGodhead [TG] ceased pestering tentacleTherapist [TT] at 16:02 --

TT: Well don’t be surprised if he’s cute

It’s a slow drive to your sister’s house. The traffic is busier than normal and it takes you at least 10 minutes just to get out of the busier parts of the city. Luckily for you, it doesn’t take you long afterwards to get out onto the country roads once again.

Rose, your step sister- technically a full sister because you guys are pretty tight- lives out in the country with 2 other people in this big mansion. One of those 2 people is Rose’s mom, who married your oldest bro. Really, they only got married for the money, but whenever they interact, you can see how relieved they are to see each other. True love there. You like to tease your brother about it being totally unironic but he simply waves you off with a glare from behind his dark, pointy shades.

That look gives you shivers up your spine just thinking about it.

You check the sign that you’re approaching rapidly. It has a list of nearby country roads that you vaguely recognize. Rose’s road is still a little ways down, but you remember some of the people living down some of the roads. People from your highschool, old friends, dusty memories; that sentimental shit.

Not even 5 minutes later, you find yourself turning down a dusty, gravelly road. Fields and sparse trees surround you, but you know that the farther down this road you drive, the more trees that will appear. You can even see the vague outline of the trees in the distance.

Now this, this is where you like to speed. Rose knows that you speed down this road, but she doesn’t make a move to stop you because she knows that she can’t. It’s just a small habit that you picked up from when Dirk, the second oldest of your brothers, used to drive you here. Wow, that’s a long time ago. You presume that Dirk would feign innocence and state that he never sped down the highway and it’s just your mind making up stories, but you know that he knows that you know.

Weird way to think, but it’s true.

The volume of your thoughts is starting to get too high for your liking, so you turn on the radio, the speakers blaring out one of your mixs that was left in. You smirk at how good the bass feels as you lean back and speed up just a fraction more. Dust and rocks are spewing out behind you but you can’t bring yourself to care when the music is on. Rose’s house will be coming up soon, the trees are already starting to become more frequent around you. Soon, all you see are thick trees lining the curving road. Apparently Rose finds secluded areas soothing, but you find these kind of places creepy- especially alone.

The gravel road starts becoming more and more hard to see the farther you drive until, altogether, it disappears into 2 strips of well worn down grass. Through the trees you see a large house- maybe classified as a mansion- and you know you’ve made it to Rose’s house. You park your truck right beside a strangely familiar looking black Hyundai car before cutting the ignition and getting out.

A small breeze ruffles your perfectly styled hair and brings the smell of clean environment. It nearly makes your lungs burn from the clarity of the air contrasting to the dirtiness of the city.

“Oh. Dave!” a voice catches your attention, making you turn your head. Standing there is Kanaya, Rose’s girlfriend. She’s smiling at you, holding a tabby kitten in her hands fondly. No shoes, you note before walking up to her.

“Kanaya. Nice to see you. Sup?” She giggles quietly at you before holding out the kitten which mews quietly in protest. Everything about her is mysterious and upbeat. From her sparkling, green eyes to her short styled, black hair, all the way down to the light colours that she's wearing.

She smiles at it,”Our cat just had kittens and Rose wanted me to go check on them and this one seems to be getting sick. Want to come with me to check up on it?”

You shrug and nod, following her into the large house. Inside, you know is very classy and organized, unlike your apartment. Kanaya leads you into another room, where a bunch of kennels and food is stocked for multiple animals and sits down on a stool by a bag of dog food. You lean against the door frame and decide to watch as she checks the kitten up and starts grabbing materials from around her. You smirk slightly. Rose and Kanaya are a very good couple and you know anybody would approve of Rose’s choice.

“You can go see Rose if you want. I think she’s just taking care of our guest in the guest bedroom,”Kanaya glances back up at you and waves her hand casually to show you that she doesn't mind.

“Thanks,” you say,”hope the kitten gets better.” Then you push off the doorframe and set out for the guest bedroom. You know that the guest rooms are on the second floor, so you head up the spiral, carpeted stairs to the next floor. While you’re going up, there are several pictures of Rose, getting more and more recent the higher you go up. It’s a really cool idea. Probably her mom’s or Kanaya’s suggestion.

When you get to the floor, you instantly know which door Rose is in. The one that has the open door. You know with many years of knowing her that she hates unused rooms with open doors, but loves used rooms with open doors. You walk over to it and peer inside, seeing Rose sitting on a bed, seemingly talking with a small smirk on her lips.

You look at who’s lying in the bed and feel a sudden jolt of recognition.

It’s John.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry I haven't updated in so long! I've uh, been having an interesting time in school, haha! Hope this chapter is ok! Comments- advice, tips or constructive criticism is always welcome!

Your name is John Egbert and your head is aching. When you got home from driving through all of the traffic of Austin, Rose had instantly took the role of being your personal caretaker. She tended to your headache, laid you down on your bed in th guest room and talked away all of the pain with her soothing and cunning words.

Sometimes, you would sit up and gulp down great mouthfuls of water, but other than that, you were pretty calm. Until a head poked around the doorframe and you instantly recognized the face. Usually you don’t recognize people so easily, especially if you just met them. But.. Well, apparently this Dave person is different. You know it’s him.

“John?” he says in a slightly surprised tone. You sit up and tilt your head quizzically, looking at him with wide eyes.

“Dave? What are you doing here?’ You ask, just as surprised.

He seems to scoff at you,”I’ll have you know that Rose is my sister, thank you. Why are you here?” His shades seem to be mocking you, and if you could see his eyes, you know that they would be making fun of you.

Rose, who is still sitting on the bed, speaks up, her tone amused,”I never knew you guys knew each other! When did you meet?” Her lips are quirked up in a smirk that looks awfully familiar to Dave’s.

“I was the one that saved that dork from dying,” Dave walks further into the room and turns his head towards you,”You’re still sick?” You huff and feel your face heat up, but ignore it somewhat.

“It’s not my fault that it’s hot as hell out there!”

Rose places a gentle hand on your arm before facing Dave,”Why are you here anyways?”

Dave shoves his hands into his pockets,”I wanted to see some of the papers that you scavenged to see if there are any more job openings.”

You quirk your head a little bit, interested in the conversation. Rose, however, narrows her eyes slightly.

“Dave, you need to search by yourself sometime, I can’t do it all for you. I have college too, you know.” Dave huffs and backs up a little bit.

“Fine then. I’ll find my own job.” And then he’s gone, disappeared. You turn your head to Rose, who is staring off at the place where Dave used to be.

You decide to break the silence,”So, Dave’s your brother?” She seemingly breaks out of her stupor and fixes you with her violet gaze.

“Well, in a way yes,” her voice seems a little different now,”He’s actually my half brother. We have the same mother but different dads. We weren’t that close when we were younger, but when we got into highschool, we really got along better. He likes to randomly hang around my house so I doubt that he’s left quite yet.” You find yourself nodding already when she nods.

“ok.. Anyways. I think I’m good to get another glass of water from the kitchen. My head isn’t hurting or anything anymore.” Rose nods and gets up so you can slowly get to your feet.

She steps out of the way so you can leave the room before following you out and walking the other way than you. The kitchen is empty when you walk into it and you pour yourself another glass of water without a hitch. Kanaya likes to drink water with cucumber in it, so when you take a sip, the taste is strong on your tongue.

“So… how you feeling since your incident a few hours ago?”

You whirl around to find yourself face to face with Dave. HIs arms are crossed across his chest and holy crap that smirk is kinda hot. Wait- what? You didn’t think anything like that!

You narrow your eyes and take another sip of the cucumber water,”It’s not nice to scare people like that, you know.”

He chuckles a little bit and leans forward a slighty, causing you to lean back,”What if I don’t want to be nice?” A light flush rises up your neck and you scowl at him. Who does he think he is?

“Well, I don’t like it. Besides, you just barged into your sister’s house uninvited. What if she didn’t want you here right now?”

Another smirk,”She would never kick me out. Besides, I like seeing you flustered like that.”

“W-what?! I’m not flustered!” You try to rise up to meet Dave’s eyes, but he’s actually taller than you,”You’re just a major douche!” He almost seems to be looking down upon you and you wish longingly that you were taller.

“I think you are, Egbert,” he leans towards you to whisper in your ear, wrapping his arms around you to grope your ass,”anyways, I’m just leaving.”

Dave disappears just as quickly as he came, whisking away from you and walking out of the door. You touch your cheeks, feeling the heat from your face pulse into your cold fingertips. What was that about? You… You’re not a homosexual! You don’t like it when a guy gropes you! Yet… It felt kind of… nice? Wait, wait, wait! You’re straight! What Dave did was horrible! Totally unacceptable! What a douchebag!

You shake your head and go to sit down on the couch, still sipping at your water. Maybe you can just sit down, relax, maybe watch a little bit of tv, text your cousin, Jade or your roommate, Karkat. Yes, that seems like a great idea!

Except, when you sit down, something jabs into your butt. You feel around underneath you and feel a sharp piece of something in your back pocket. When you pull it out, you find out that its a piece of blue construction paper, folded tightly into a small square. With your curiousity rising, you unfold it and find a number written in red marker staring at you. The handwriting is messy and scrawling and underneath are words.

**_turntechGodhead_**.

You stare at it for a few moments before your eyes widen and you nearly drop the paper. It’s Dave’s number. You know it is. The writing is painstakingly clear now. He’s interested in you. Should you call him? What are the words underneath? Maybe you should ask Rose for advice? Or maybe Jade? Karkat would also be a good choice to ask for advice.

You opt to pull out your phone and pull out pesterchum, opening Jade’s contact.

\-- ectBiologist [EB] began pestering gardenGnostic [GG] at 18:22 --

EB: hey, jade!   
EB: i need to ask you about something   
EB: do you think you can help me?   
GG: oh hi John! Sure you can ask me anything!   
GG: what’s bothering you?   
EB: k, so there’s this dude   
GG: oh! I never knew you liked guys John!   
EB: not like that, Jade! now shush, let me explain   
EB: k, so there’s this dude   
EB: and he saved me from when i passed out, studying the environment for my biology assignment   
GG: oh ya I remember that! You said that somebody saved you and drove you back to your car!   
EB: ya, but when i was talking with rose, he randomly just walked in like he owned the place   
EB: apparently he’s rose’s half brother or something   
EB: but when i went down to get a drink of water, we got to talking and   
EB: he uh, he groped me and i just found that he wrote down his number on a piece of paper and put it in my back pocket   
EB: what do i do?   
EB: should i call him?   
GG: well if you don’t want to call him then don’t! What do you think? Do you want to call him?   
EB: well,   
EB: i don’t know!   
EB: i kind of do i guess?   
EB: but i think he only wants to talk to me to do   
EB: well, to do that kind of stuff   
GG: well why don’t you give him a chance? If he really just wants to get into your pants then don’t talk to him anymore   
GG: easy as that!

You lean back and regard the text with careful eyes. Jade has a point. You could call Dave, and if he only wanted to mess with you, then you could drop all connections with him. Besides, you’re just staying in Texas for 3 weeks. It’s not like Dave could mess with you even more after that except maybe texting you.  
EB: you’re right! thank you, jade! i think i might call him a little later though. it’s pretty late  
GG: ok! well anyways i need to get to study! I have class tomorrow  
EB: ok! by jade  
GG: bye!

\-- gardenGnostic [GG] ceased pestering ectoBiologist [EB] at 19:03 --

Now that that is taken care of, you get up, put your glass away and walk back upstairs to your room. Rose, Kanaya and Rose’s mother are no where to be seen so you close your door and flop onto your bed. These past 24 hours sure were hectic. Now you’re exhausted. And the next day you’re planning on phoning Dave again, maybe hang out with him if he wants to…

Wait. Wait. Why would you want to hang out with him first anyways? That’s kind of stupid. If he wants to hang out with you, he’ll have to ask! Not you!

You sigh and cover your face with your hands angrily. This was so messed up. Why would that Dave guy make you second guess your sexuality? He wasn’t even that hot. Not really, anyways.

“Maybe I should just go to sleep, even if it is early,” you think miserably, turning over onto your side facing the pale green wall of the room. With a hidden effort, you push all thoughts of Dave and his number from your mind before closing your eyes. Sleep evades you for a long while and you vaguely remember the sound of voices downstairs before sleep consumes your conscience.

________________________________________________________________________

Sunlight. That’s what’s carried to your brain first when you begin to wake up. Then a barrage of information comes flooding in. Your feet and face is cold and you realize that you have no blankets covering you. Today is the day that you have to call Dave. Well, not have to, but it would be a pretty good idea to. Today is also the day that you fully start your assignment for biology and not die from dehydration or heat. Those are your very simplistic goals for today and you’re determined to finish them.

“John! Come downstairs to eat!”

You groan angrily, covering your eyes with your arm before sitting up. Everything is still the same, but your door is open and you smile slightly at the thought of Rose checking in on you. It’s kind of a weird thought, but Rose is a close friend despite your differences and you find it endearing that she cares about you.

“I really need to get out of the habit of thinking too much,” you mutter to yourself while throwing on some different clothes. Of course you forgot to change before going to bed. It’s become a habit of yours because when you were back in Washington, you would study so late some nights that you would fall asleep in your clothes.

Instead of dwelling too much on the fact, you leave your room tiredly and head downstairs. The scent of pancakes, bacon and eggs makes your stomach growl from the base of the stairs, where you’re blearily still trying to navigate through the living room to the kitchen. Rose and Kanaya’s voice drifts to you, their voices seem laced with laughter.

When you shuffle into the kitchen, you see why. They’re floor is littered with little clumps of soap suds and when you look to Rose and her girlfriend, their clothes, hair and faces are covered in the stuff. You chuckle a little bit before joining them at the table.

“I see you guys are having fun,” you say before putting a giant forkful of scrambled eggs into your mouth from the plate that was set out for you. Rose chuckles airily, nibbling on a plain pancake.

“We, uh,” she glances at Kanaya playfully,” we got carried away with cooking and looked back to see the sink overflowing with bubbles. Kanaya thought it would be a good idea to start throwing bubbles at us.”You laugh through another mouthful of food, trying to stifle the raucous noise.

When you swallow and your chuckles subside you reply,”It looks like a true battlefield. So who won?”

They answer at the same time, both saying “me!” and you can’t help but laugh even harder. Your friends are so weird sometimes. Silence lapses over all of you as you start to eat your food in earnest. Small talk is brought up like “ how did you sleep?” and “ what are you doing today?” but other than that, the kitchen is quiet. When you finish your food, you wash off the plate before putting it in the dishwasher and helping clean up the mess. It feels comfortable being around these people, they’re relaxed. Rose’s mother really raised her well.

Speaking of,”Where’s your mother been lately, Rose?” You ask suddenly. Rose doesn’t answer you until she’s fully done putting everything away before she turns to look at you.

“She went out with Dave’s older brother a few days ago. She won’t be back for another two weeks.”

You nod thoughtfully, thoughts flying back to Dave again. You should probably call him soon. It’s getting pretty late, it’s already 11 in the morning.

"Anyways, thank you for breakfast Rose and Kanaya, but I need to make a quick phone call. May i be excused?” you try to sound as grateful as you can. Kanaya smiles widely and shakes her head slightly.

Her voice is kind and hospitable,”Of course you can be excused, John. What kind of question is that?” You laugh, a little bit uptight now.

“Thanks again guys, be right back!” You turn and practically race back up the stairs, grabbing your phone from your bedside table. There’s no new notifications so you unlock it and go to type in Dave’s number before you start to really feel nervous. What if this is the wrong number? What if it’s just a prank to phone somebody else>

‘ _John, you need to do this. Stop overthinking!_ ’ you warn in your head before pressing the call button. The familiar rings fill your ear when you put the phone up to your head, scouring your room with anxious eyes. On the third ring, Dave picks up.

The voice seems muffled when he starts talking,”wha’ is it?” You clear your voice a little bit before talking.

“It’s John. The one that’s staying at Rose’s place.”

“Jawn…? Hi, sup?” his voice seems a little bit more clearer but it might just be you getting better service.

You shift a little bit on your bed so you’re lying down,”Uh, just had breakfast. What about you?”

“Jus’ woke up,” a chuckle,” so, why’d you decide to call me?”

“Er, to talk I guess? And because I guess I was wanting to ask why you groped me yesterday?” Your voice goes shrill a bit when you say ‘groped’.

It’s silent on the other end before you can definitely hear Dave shifting to sit up,”I’m sorry. Did you not like that?” There’s nothing mocking in his voice- well none that you can spot anyways- and you want to believe that Dave is genuinely concerned that you’re upset with him.

“Well, I guess it was kind of weird. But I decided to give you another chance.”

“A chance? For what?”

“Well, my cousin said that I should give you a chance and if all you did was to grope… me. if you want to be just friends then maybe I’ll give you a chance.”

Dave yawns on the other line,” sure. I can be friends with you, totally cool. So, anyways. What’re you doing today? We can start our bromance today if you want.”

You nearly choke on your own spit at the tone,”well, I don’t know! Probably working on college homework and all that stuff… Uh, maybe tomorrow?” Your tone doesn’t nearly sound as confident as Dave’s but you make do. The other line is quiet for a few moments until the other male is clearing his throat and giving a quiet- but cool!- agreement.

“Then it’s all set!” you try to make your tone sound more excited than nervous, but you can’t help it. What if he takes advantage of you? Or tries to make a move? You’re not a homosexual! No way!

“Then it’s all set,” Dave chuckles into the line. At his voice you blush and nod a little, even though he can’t see it. You barely notice that he hangs up until you hear the insistent beeping of the dead line and a monotonous ladies voice speaking into your ear. That’s it. You have a bromance date with Dave Strider _**TOMORROW**_.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okie, now some drama and John thinks too much!

_**== >** _

Be the other guy flipping his shit.

 

Your name is Dave Strider and John- the man you may or may not find adorkable- just agreed to hang out with you. Ok, ok, don’t freak out here.

You completely know that ‘date’ and ‘hanging out’ are completely different things. Just because he gave you another chance to redeem yourself from your previous actions doesn’t mean that he wants to get down and dirty with you. Which, in case anybody is wondering, you _don’t_ want to get down and dirty with him quite _yet_. You can still wait. Probably.

 Anyways, the next day goes as slow as it could be. You recall, sometime as early as 9:30 in the am- _in the am_ \- John had began pestering you( it made you pleased that he knew that the other contact was your chumhandle). Now, that conversation seems as far away as last year, but the memory still clings to you. You know that at 1:00 pm you’re supposed to be meeting up at Rose’s house to pick up your ‘ _date’_ and take him through the city and chill. Right now, when you look at your phone, it’s about 12 o'clock and you haven’t eaten, gotten dressed or even gotten _up_ yet.

You guess it’s about time to be productive.

 So, you get up from being sedentary and comfortable on your bed, the only thing really unpacked in your apartment aside from your couch before going to pick out something to wear for today. Really, all you have in your closet are several t-shirts with ironic sayings or pictures on them and different coloured skinny jeans and sweaters. Today, you feel like wearing your favourite red and white t-shirt with a broken record on the front with black skinnies and a red sweater over top. 

Just to be safe, you pace over to your mirror to look at yourself. When you get there you have to admit you did pretty good at picking.

 It looks good for casual wear, something that would look like you’re just ‘hanging out’. But, damn does your ass look good in those jeans.

 You nod your head ever so slightly to yourself, walking to the kitchen to grab a snack before heading out. No need to worry about your hair or your face, all that shit seems to stay about the same no matter what you do. You could go swimming under the pounding water of a waterfall and your hair would still look hella fine. Like as if it ever looks bad anyways.

 At around 12:30, you finally bring yourself to drag your ass out the door and into your crappy truck to go pick up John over at Rose’s place. Before you go, however, you remember that it would be good manners to text him that you’re on your way. When you open the pesterchum app, his contact is already pulled open from this morning.

\-- turntechGodhead [TG] began pestering ectBiologist [EB] at 12:30 --  

TG: yo im on my way now

TG: youre lucky that i even had the decency to be on time

EB: oh! dave! EB: nice to know you’re awake, haha!

TG: so you ready to have your mind blown way yet or what

TG: i swear that austin is the greatest city youll ever see

EB: ya! i actually am a little excited to look around a little bit

EB: ive never really travelled to any other states before so this is kinda new to me

TG: itll be great bro 

TG: but anyways i gotta drive man

TG: unless you want me to die by getting smashed into by another shitty vehicle which would result in you never seeing the city fully again

TG: i suggest that i leave until i get there

EB: woah, dramatic GEEZ haha

EB: but anyways, see ya in a little bit

TG: k

TG: bye

\-- turntechGodhead [TG] ceased pestering ectoBiologist [EB] at 12:39 --

 When you close the app and rev up your vehicle, you pullout of the parking lot and join the traffic of the city. It isn’t as busy as it was yesterday, but it still takes you a good ten minutes to get out of the city before you’re travelling at a somewhat decent speed to get to Rose’s house on time. It’s nearly one, but seeing as you already messaged John about your leaving, you doubt that he’ll mind if you’re a little bit late. 

Besides, what else isn’t as classy as being fashionably late? Five minutes won’t kill anybody anyways.

While you travel, you crank up the stereo again, which makes your dashboard rumble a little bit with the strong bass. Shit, ya, this music’s great. Everything’s great when you’re playing your music. Nothing can make you nervous when you’re playing your music and drivin’ down the highway. You can’t even resist the urge to sing out a few lyrics when Imagine Dragons comes on. Your love for them is totally ironic of course, but lately they’ve been growing on you.

But, anyways, the turn off for Rose’s house comes up all too soon and you’re casually speeding up down the familiar gravel road. You guess you’ll have to slow down a little bit when you have John with you. He seems like the kind of person that would flip his shit over speeding and probably gain ten years all in the span of five minutes. Not that that’s bad… It’s just not something _you_  worry about per say.

A few minutes of driving down the winding road finally leads you back to Rose and Kanaya’s house once again. Everything is the same as it was the day before, but to your surprise, John is already sitting on the porch.

You get out, leaving your truck on so it can blare out the radio obnoxiously and approach the dorky boy sitting there. He looks over at you when you get to the bottom of the stairs and he grins this toothy grin that makes you take a double take of it in it’s beautiful, dorky glory.

“ You ready, Egderp?” you manage to say, keeping your voice cool and collected. The male stands up and skips down the stairs like as if his job is to be some weird jumpy animal.

“ I’m always ready!” he says indignantly as he passes you to head to your truck,” I can’t wait to see Austin!” Oh, so that’s why he’s so happy. Of course it’s not because you- the sexy and cool Strider- are here, blessing him with your presence. Not being vain or anything of course.

When you get into the driver’s side of the truck, you turn down the music before facing the boy sitting beside you,” Ready to go face danger and possibly get killed? Maybe even get a couple of danger pizzas to go with it?” John maintains to keep a pretty impressive determined face for about five seconds and then he lets out this nervous laughter.

 “ Pfft, of course I am! Besides, I do believe that you need to give me a good reason to like you anyways. We’re here to _hang_ _out_ , not do whatever… You want to do,” he rolls his eyes a little bit, but he doesn’t even look that angry at you. How does somebody roll their eyes with that kind of tone but not sound angry at all? You seriously want to know the secret to this guy’s powers.

“ Well, then there’s nothing to worry about because obviously it would be just stupid to get all touchy and feely in a truck right in front of my sister’s house. Anyways, get ready nonetheless because Austin is going to be busy as _hell_  at this time of day.” 

John makes a sound resembling some sort of agreement before your cruising out of the Lalonde’s driveway and onto the the gravel roads again.

To your surprise, with somebody else in tow, the drive doesn’t even seem that long. You and John make easy conversation and it seems that you’re saying all of the right things because suddenly he’s laughing and joking around with you like as if you’re his childhood best friend.

 While you’re occupied with talking and being interrupted with laughter from John, the outline of Austin’s silhouettes of skyscrapers obtain more and more detail as you enter the city. He becomes quiet and starts looking around as we pass vehicles and stores. You can’t help but smirk. He must come from a smaller town.

Once you’ve evaded some of the traffic and found a place to park so the both of you can get out you choose to break the silence,” So, you liking the city yet?” John seems to barely even hear you before he’s flinging himself out of the vehicle and looking around.

 “ John.” You get out also, locking the doors quickly and joining the other on the side walk. He finally turns his head to acknowledge you, smile plastered on his face.

 “ Where are we going first? 

Just like a little kid. You tsk and shake your head slowly. “ All in good time, young one. All in good time,” the expression you got for that was priceless,” but follow me!”

 The day whirls around you like a tornado. The both of you run around the city, looking in stores and trying on ridiculous clothing items. Really, for a very long time you thought that John hated you. Unless he’s just humouring you. By the time you’re both back in your truck and headed back to Rose’s, it’s dark and John is probably hyped off of energy drinks or some shit like that.

Honestly, throughout the entire day, he was like a little kid. He was always running off every which way, making you follow him constantly. It might’ve just been the excitement, but he also could just be a very hyper active person. Which you thought would exhaust you, but it doesn’t.

“ Here we are. Back at the Lalonde’s creepy house. Hope you enjoyed your stay Mr. Egbert,” you say dramatically while you pull up beside Kanaya’s SUV. John giggles quietly, getting out of the truck. You get out also, y’know, to be a good ‘date’.

The both of you slowly walk up to the front door, John oddly quiet.

When he gets there, he turns around to face you,” Thanks for showing me around, bro. It was actually kinda… fun. Even though you’re obnoxious and kind of rude.” You roll your eyes before you remember that you’re wearing shades and he can’t exactly see through them.

“ Ditto. Anyways, say hi to Rose and Kanaya for me. I guess I gotta ditch this party to go back to my rad home.”

John snorts and rolls his eyes at you before he’s saying good night and the door is closing in your face. Now you’re back to driving home alone, in the dark and bored as hell. At least you made an ok impression, maybe he’ll want to do that again sometime. You sigh and before returning to your truck and heading home.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

**_== > _**Switch Back to the Childish Dude

 

Ok, first of all, you’re _not_ childish. Second of all, you’re sitting at the foot of the stairs, head in your hands.

Yes, your name is John Egbert and you’ve just returned from your ‘date’ with Dave Strider. It’s like an unrequited thing. You know that both of you know that it was a fake date, but it was never brought up. It sounds complicated, you know, but when you were talking to him, you could just _feel_ that datey kind of stuff.

Like, one time, when the both of you were going to go into Starbucks for a well deserved chai tea latte, you and Dave had a… Well you both shared a moment. You know, the kind of moments where you stare into the other’s eyes and get lost in them. Ya, that kind of moment. Except you can’t see Dave’s eyes so it was more of a ‘staring into somebody’s sunglasses and letting your sentences trail off before the sound of a honking car drags you out of your stupor’ kind of moment. That was long. Maybe you’ll just call it an aviators moment. Or a Dave moment.

But anyways, now you’re sitting at the foot of the stairs with all of the lights turned off because Rose and Kanaya are already in bed. When you had checked your phone for the first time since one( you had several texts from Karkat, Jade and Rose) you had found out it was actually pretty late. Like one in the morning kind of late. You weren’t even aware that you had been out that long. Time sure flew with Dave.

The only problem is that… Well, you want to have a bromanship with him- ya that’d be cool because he’s actually pretty rad- but he keeps on making moves on you _subconsciously_. You don’t want to have a relationship with him and you’re pretty sure he understands that but it’s almost like he’s doing it without even knowing that he’s doing it! You’ve never really been friends with somebody that’s a flirt, but you’re not sure if you like it or not. It’s ok if you have a few moments with somebody totally platonic occasionally because that shit happens! But, you don’t want them happening all the time. Besides, you’re totally straight and being reverted to a homosexual would be _so_ uncool.

You groan and stand up, moving up to your temporary bedroom and closing the door. Rose can have her little flip show about keeping the doors open later, right now you just want to be alone and feel alone. To think about your problems. You don’t think being friends with Dave would be all that bad. He’s kind of funny, you guess. 

But, on the plus side, he knows the city so he has some advantages. You’re not one to use others, except maybe on the rare occasions. ‘ _I’ll just become friends with the dude and if he doesn’t show any signs of stopping with the flirting then I won’t hang out with him anymore. Besides, I’m only here for three weeks_ ,’ you reason with yourself.

It sounds like a perfect plan in your head and it puts most of your worries to rest. So, you get up to get ready to bed- you don’t want to fall asleep in your clothes again- before promptly falling asleep. You sure hope that these three weeks will be fun and drama free.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked the first chapter! I was kinda proud of this but i dunno. My thoughts might just be false hope that maybe I did a somewhat good job on it in fear that nobody will like it xD


End file.
